Benin president claims victory

Cotonou - The campaign of Benin President Boni Yayi on Tuesday claimed he won weekend elections outright and a runoff vote would not be needed, but his main challenger strongly disputed it.

"After more than 90% of the counting of the votes by our (campaign) and independent organisations, we are in a position to say today that our candidate is first in the election with more than 54% of the votes," Yayi spokesperson Marcel de Souza told AFP.

He did not provide details on the organisations.

De Souza added that they were "only waiting for the definitive results proclaimed by the constitutional court to close the debate" and called on the opposition to concede.